​Fitch downgrades Russia’s credit rating to 1 notch above junk level

The international ratings agency has knocked Russia’s credit rating down a peg, while warning that ‘growth may not return until 2017,’ as the national economy struggles amid sanctions and tumbling oil prices.

Fitch Ratings Inc, with dual headquarters in New York and London,
downgraded Russia’s credit rating to BBB- from BBB, which is just
one step away from the non-investment field.

Fitch said Russia’s Gross Domestic Product will decrease by four
percent this year, which is significantly worse than the 1.5
percent decline it had anticipated.

"Growth may not return until 2017," Fitch warned.

A storm of factors, including plummeting oil prices, turbulence
with the national currency and sanctions slapped against the
country in the aftermath of the Ukrainian debacle, have made the
Russian economy particularly vulnerable.

In June, Brent crude was trading at more than $111; on Friday, it
was less than $50 a barrel, while the ruble was trading at 63
against the dollar. In an intervention effort to offset the
declining ruble, Russia’s dollar reserves took a hit, tumbling
from $511 billion to $388 billion over the course of a year.

It then lectured on Russia’s overdependence on natural resources:
"Commodity dependence is high: energy products account for
almost 70 percent of merchandise exports and 50 percent of
federal government revenue, exposing the public finances and the
balance of payments to external shocks."

The ratings agency also warned that Russian inflation, which hit
11.4 percent at the end of 2014, would remain stuck in the
double-digits before dropping to 8.5 percent next year.

"The prospects of the [Russian Central Bank] realizing its
end-2015 inflation target of 4.5 percent now look remote,
particularly if the exchange rate falls further, potentially
leading to still higher interest rates," Fitch predicted.

There were some silver linings, however, in the cloudy report
with the ratings agency predicting that oil prices will increase
to about $70 a barrel this year.

In the event that oil stays at its present historic lows, "it
could precipitate a deeper recession and put further strain on
public finances, severely limiting the authorities' room for
maneuver."

Russia’s economic woes aren’t limited to the country itself.
Europe, Russia’s largest trading partner, is feeling the pressure
from loss of trade with its huge neighbor.

This week, French President Francois Hollande expressed deep
concern over what sort of impact Russia’s economic downturn might
have on Europe, going so far as to demand an end to the sanctions.

“If Russia has a crisis, it is not necessarily good for
Europe,” Hollande said during a two-hour interview with
radio station France Inter. “I'm not for the policy of
attaining goals by making things worse, I think that sanctions
must stop now.”